Inspirational: Son of a coal miner, Umesh Yadav battled abject poverty and rejections to get success

Indian pace bowler Umesh Yadav is a regular in the national side. With his pace and swing he has troubled batsmen all around the world. He has also developed reverse swing in his arsenal and has been bowling good on tracks that are not ideal for pace bowling. This is not a sudden change. Umesh Yadav has been working really hard on his line and length and the results show. For Yadav, hard work is something he has been doing ever since he was born and after getting success he has not stopped toiling hard. His story of rags to riches is inspirational to say the least.

Umesh Yadav has had a troubled childhood. His family was poor. Umesh Yadav’s father Tilak Yadav is a loader in mines in Nagpur. Nobody in Yadav’s family has seen a college. His father is illiterate. One of his brothers didn’t study after class 12. One brother didn’t even pass class 10.

Umesh Yadav didn’t play with a proper cricket ball until he was 19. He used to play for local prize money tournaments to get money for clothes and sun-glasses. One day his friend advised him to play with a seasoned ball. And Umesh Yadav has not looked back ever since.

Umesh Yadav wanted to become a havildar in army or a constable in police to secure a stable job for himself. However, after his introduction to the cricket ball, he didn’t have the time to think about the cricket ball. At 20 he got the cricket ball in his hand. At 21 he was playing the Ranji Trophy. At 22 he was playing for India and at 23 he had the IPL contract worth $750,000. He has been troubling batsmen with his pace ever since.

Yadav had faced financial woes. He was rejected by the army and the police. But he didn’t lose hope. He transformed failures into opportunities. In an interview, he admitted that if he had become a constable, he would not have become a cricketer. And that’s why his story is special.